1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a new and improved intake bypass valve and, more particularly, pertains to diverting the initial flow of water from a fire hydrant through a manually actuated ball-type valve to flush out the initial flow of dirty water.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of valves of a wide variety of designs and constructions is known in the prior art. More specifically, valves of a wide variety of designs and constructions heretofore devised and utilized for the purpose of diverting the flow of water between a plurality of flow paths for a variety of purposes are known to consist basically of familiar, expected, and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which has been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
The prior art discloses a large number of valves of a wide variety of designs and constructions. By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,654,834 to Sifri discloses a fluid bypass valve.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,972,878 to Carlin discloses a firetruck valve.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,107,896 to Otto discloses a multifunctional valve.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,156,177 to Bishoff discloses a flow loading unloader valve.
Lastly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,178,185 to Stehling discloses a suction inlet valve for fire truck pumpers.
In this respect, the intake bypass valve according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of diverting the initial flow of water from a fire hydrant through a manually actuated ball-type valve to flush out the initial flow of dirty water.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for a new and improved intake bypass valve which can be used for diverting the initial flow of water from a fire hydrant through a manually actuated ball-type valve to flush out the initial flow of dirty water. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.